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Target Practice, Week 7: Mike Wallace bungles opportunities vs. Bengals

Typically, our headliner in this feature is someone who finished among the weekly target leaders and, as a result, delivered an excellent fantasy line. We like to keep things positive around here. We're like a little ray of fantasy sunshine, basically.

Today, however, we're discussing a player who was peppered with targets in Week 7 — Mike Wallace led all receivers with 15 — yet who offered almost no help to fantasy owners (eight receptions, 52 yards). Wallace had three ugly drops on Sunday night against Cincinnati, plus he failed to snag a tipped ball that bounced off his body, in the end zone. Not great.

PPR owners probably weren't complaining too loudly about Wallace's output (unless they actually watched the game), but the rest of us were less than satisfied.

Still, in Wallace's case, there's really not much to fret about moving forward. We're talking about 26-year-old burner, a big-play specialist who separates with ease. And as Jamison Hensley reminds us, Wallace had never dropped more than four passes in any season prior to 2012. Given the player's history, we shouldn't be too concerned. Wallace should absolutely torch Washington in Week 8 — the 'Skins defense has allowed the most fantasy points to opposing wideouts this season, and they were humiliated by Victor Cruz on Sunday.

Here's the usual target leader board, followed by more drop discussion in the bullets...

As bad as Wallace was in Week 7, Brandon Lloyd may have been worse. Lots worse. He saw eight targets against the Jets, hauling in just one. Not every pass charted as a target for Lloyd was actually catchable — two may have been throwaways — but Tom Brady fired three balls that struck No. 85 before falling to the turf.

LET'S HAVE A SLIDESHOW!

Here's an early throw that drilled the receiver between the 8 and 5, but wasn't caught...

...and here's a well-placed deep ball that sailed through Lloyd's hands...

...and, finally, here's a pass that should have been a late TD, but instead doinked off Lloyd's outside shoulder...

So, yeah, not a great day.

Lloyd has never actually posted a stellar catch-percentage in any season, but that has a lot to do with the routes he generally runs and the quarterbacks he's been tied to, in his pre-Brady years. He's caught only 35 of his 65 targets this season, but that's better than his career rate. He was targeted 150 times last year, finishing with 70 receptions. In 2010, his breakout season, Lloyd went 77-for-153.

I'm not exactly full of confidence with Lloyd, in part because his team's offense has so many other elite, reliable options.

One last mention of a brand-name receiver who blew a layup in Week 7: If Calvin Johnson would have caught his first target on Monday night, he could still be running. What a gift from the Bears' defense, the middle of the field wide open. Yikes. Thereafter, Charles Tillman took control of the Megatron situation.

Note the significant workload for Raiders TE Brandon Myers in Week 7 (10 targets, seven receptions). He continues to be a person of interest for the deep league PPR community.

Titus Young gets the biggest value bump following Nate Burleson's season-ending injury, but keep Ryan Broyles in your PPR/dynasty plans. That kid was a machine at Oklahoma, where he became the all-time FBS career leader in receptions. Check his 2010 stats. Ridiculous.